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Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, writing to Yosemite Superintendent B.J. Griffin, said "when you exacerbate the effects of the shutdown with an ill-timed, incomplete day-use reservation announcement, you are compounding the economic hardships placed on these communities."

Among the groups complaining about the plan are the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors, Madera Chamber of Commerce and the South Yosemite Visitors Bureau.

The cost of repairing Yosemite's flood damage is estimated at $178 million, and the Clinton administration is proposing that the full amount be included in a supplementary budgetary bill, to be voted on in Congress in about two weeks.

National Park Service spokesman Dave Barna said it's no sure thing that Congress will approve $178 million, but

"that's more than 10 percent of our annual appropriation, and there's no chance we'll find that money within our current budget."

Because of the flood damage, the Upper River and Lower River campgrounds in Yosemite won't be reopened and will eventually be moved to less environmentally sensitive areas of the Valley.

Yosemite Concession Services, the Valley's concessionaire, is about to call back 400 employees who have been furloughed since the flood and will open Curry Village and Yosemite Lodge on March 15. The Ahwahnee Hotel, which was not damaged by the floods, will resume operation on March 15.

Opposition to the day-use reservation system is centered in Mariposa County, which contains two of the principal access points to the Valley: Wawona on Highway 41 and Mariposa on Highway 140. Complaints from Groveland and other communities along Highway 120 have been fewer, according to the office of Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin.

Paul Ratchford, general manager of Tenaya Lodge at Wawona, is among the business operators leading the charge against day-use reservations.

"We will not support impulsive acts and economic sanctions imposed on our community by a Park Service declaring an emergency because you are unwilling to utilize the $178 million to restore the lost parking spaces and public areas for this season's use," Ratchford wrote to Griffin.

"This emergency situation and day-use restriction is being created by you to further your cause at our continued economic expense. B.J., please stop!" Ratchford wrote.

Yosemite spokesman Kendall Thompson said that the Park Service is "pretty much committed" to the day-use reservation system. "We have to do it. If we don't, the businesses will be worse off in the long run."

"It sounds like a done deal," Ratchford said on Tuesday, adding that he hopes Griffin will consider some of the transportation alternatives that will be offered this week in a plan by the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors.

"We don't want to eliminate visitation, we just want to reduce the number of vehicles," he said.

The Park Service believes that the flood gives it an opportunity to implement portions of the 1980 general management plan, which calls for reducing and eventually eliminating private vehicle use in the Valley. The reservation system figures to cut the number of cars in the Valley by 25 to 35 percent.&lt;